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Speaker 1: Now, if you joined us on the show on Friday,

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Speaker 1: you would have heard the Police Commissioner confirming that police

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Speaker 1: recruits are going to be sent to Central Australia in

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Speaker 1: an effort to keep things under control over the summer period.

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Speaker 1: It follows that surge of more than forty officers just

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Speaker 1: weeks ago. And joining me on the line to tell

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Speaker 1: us more about the situation is the Assistant Commissioner of

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Speaker 1: Regional and Remote Policing, Martin Dole.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to you. Good morning, Katie, Assistant Commissioner.

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Speaker 1: How many officers are going to be heading to Alice

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Speaker 1: Springs or have they arrived yet?

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Speaker 3: So it depends what you're talking about with numbers, Katie.

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Speaker 3: We've got fourteen new officers arriving permanently in Oura Springs

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Speaker 3: on Monday, so that's twelve new recruits that have recently

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Speaker 3: graduated and two new Aboriginal Community Police officers. But our

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Speaker 3: numbers of temporary staff that we're maintaining in Central Australia

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Speaker 3: for Operation Drina are also continuing. So they've been coming

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Speaker 3: and going since the twenty fourth of November and we're

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Speaker 3: going to continue to have in in preest assets here

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Speaker 3: in Central Australia right over the Christmas period to the

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Speaker 3: end of January.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Right, So with the forty five officers that had

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Speaker 1: initially been surged in, what's the situation with them now?

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Speaker 2: How's that working with Operation Drina?

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Speaker 3: So, like I said, so since the twenty fourth of November,

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Speaker 3: we've had sometimes in excess of forty five extra offices here.

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Speaker 3: So we've pulled the Commissioner of Police as directed that

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Speaker 3: we pull resources from a number of areas to support

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Speaker 3: Central Australia and Operation Drina. So at times we've had

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Speaker 3: in excess of that forty five that was initially announced

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Speaker 3: right at the beginning on the twenty fourth of November.

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Speaker 3: So numbers are a hard game because every day we've

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Speaker 3: got officers coming and going. But we're going to continue

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Speaker 3: increase resourcing here right till the end of January to

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Speaker 3: continue the great work that Operation Drina's doing and delivering well.

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Speaker 1: And it looks as though it has had some pretty

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Speaker 1: good results. Talk us through some of you know what

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Speaker 1: you've seen as a result of those additional officers being

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Speaker 1: there and that surge in in resourcing.

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Speaker 3: So for the last two days in Ala Springs, we've

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Speaker 3: had zero unlorful entries reported to US, So zero unlofful

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Speaker 3: entries is a significant impact for Alice Springs. We've been

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Speaker 3: plagued with property chrome for months now, so zero unlufful

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Speaker 3: entries is a great result. Some of the results that

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Speaker 3: Operation Drina has had since commencing operations on the twenty

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Speaker 3: four to November, We've made over one hundred arrests of

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Speaker 3: offenders in the area of operation. We've handed out one

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Speaker 3: hundred and fifty seven traffic infringement notices, we've handed out

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Speaker 3: forty five summary infringent notices, and we've tipped out nearly

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Speaker 3: nine hundred liters of alcohol being drunk in a public

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Speaker 3: place in contravention of the Liquor Act.

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Speaker 2: Nine hundred liters, did you say so?

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Speaker 3: Eight hundred and ninety two to be specific. That was

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Speaker 3: our stats on Monday, So I haven't updated the last

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Speaker 3: two days, but yeah, nearly nine hundred liters of alcohol

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Speaker 3: been consumed in a public place in contravention of the

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Speaker 3: Liquor Act.

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Speaker 2: That's pretty unbelievable.

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Speaker 3: It's huge figures, but you know, taking action destroying that alcohol.

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Speaker 3: We've also taken four hundred and seventy three people into

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Speaker 3: protective custody over that period, and that's people that are

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Speaker 3: intoxicated in a public place that aren't capable of caring

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Speaker 3: for themselves, and that's had a significant impact on any

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Speaker 3: social behavior that we've been seeing in the central business

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Speaker 3: district of Alice Springs.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I bet it has.

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Speaker 1: When you talk about so, did you say four hundred

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Speaker 1: and seventy three people taken into protective.

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Speaker 2: Custody, that's correct, Yes, And where like is that.

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Speaker 1: Being taken to the watchhouse or is there a you know,

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Speaker 1: is there a facility where they can go to sober up.

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Speaker 3: Yes, So that's a combination of all of the places

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Speaker 3: that we can take people into protective custody. So that's

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Speaker 3: the watchhouse, the shelters. So we've got a drug and

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Speaker 3: alcohol shelter here which is DAFFA. We've also got people

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Speaker 3: we can convey to the hospital if they're so intoxicated

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Speaker 3: that we concern about the health and that includes people

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Speaker 3: that are conveyed home as well.

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Speaker 2: Assistant Commissioner.

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Speaker 1: Look, I know you can't get into the politic ex

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Speaker 1: SciTE of things, but when you look at the number

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Speaker 1: of leaders that have been tipped out of mean eight

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Speaker 1: hundred and ninety two leaders was the latest figure from Monday,

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Speaker 1: the fact that four hundred and seventy three people have

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Speaker 1: been taken into protective custody as a result of you know,

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Speaker 1: of alcohol issues by the sounds of it, or in

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Speaker 1: contravention I think you said of the alcohol liquor requirements

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Speaker 1: in Central Australia. I mean, does that demonstrate to you

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Speaker 1: that there has been a change since the ending of

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Speaker 1: that stronger Futures legislation or is that sort of too

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Speaker 1: difficult to tell.

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Speaker 3: Look, I think that the fact is, and the truth is, Katie,

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Speaker 3: that we've had a problem in this town with alcohol

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Speaker 3: consumption for a very long time. Of course, we have

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Speaker 3: seen some increases since the lifting of Stronger Futures, and

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Speaker 3: that was always going to be the case. In the interim,

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Speaker 3: I think, you know, we're coming up to the six

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Speaker 3: month mark now where we've been keeping statistics, So it'll

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Speaker 3: be interesting to have a look at the six month

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Speaker 3: assessment of all of those factors and actually see how

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Speaker 3: much it has impacted our business. But yeah, there's no

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Speaker 3: doubt that there is more alcohol flowing into the community

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Speaker 3: and it's causing issues.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I'll be really interested to see how it does

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Speaker 1: look at the end of that six month period, Assistant Commissioner,

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Speaker 1: I know that you've said that obviously you've had to

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Speaker 1: draw in some of those resources from other areas to

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Speaker 1: make sure that you know that you're able to deal

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Speaker 1: with what was going on in Alice Springs. Has that

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Speaker 1: had an impact on some of the more remote communities, So.

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Speaker 3: No specific incidences where we haven't been able to provide

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Speaker 3: policing services. So the Commissioner of Police was pretty clear

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Speaker 3: we had to draw resources from where we could get them,

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Speaker 3: but we also had to be able to make sure

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Speaker 3: that we could maintain service delivery to the areas that

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Speaker 3: were needed. So we didn't take anybody from areas where

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Speaker 3: we weren't able to respond in a timely manner if

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Speaker 3: something happened on those communities.

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Speaker 1: Assistant Commissioner, some of those figures, you know, they're quite

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Speaker 1: astronomical when you look at the impact that having that

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Speaker 1: surge of police into Alice Springs has had. I know

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Speaker 1: there's going to be a lot of people listening this

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Speaker 1: morning thinking why didn't it happens sooner?

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Speaker 3: I think resourcing is always a balancing game, Katie. Of course,

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Speaker 3: the people of Elder Springs needed a circuit breaker. We

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Speaker 3: were always planning an operation for this time of the

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Speaker 3: year in Central Australia because historically this school holiday the

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Speaker 3: Christmas period we see an influx of people to Central

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Speaker 3: Australia from the outlying areas, so we were always planning it.

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Speaker 3: We just bought it on a little bit early because

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Speaker 3: of the really horrific crime rates that we were seeing occurring.

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Speaker 1: I know that we've heard this morning that one of

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Speaker 1: the popular local pubs, Montes, they're planning to close their doors,

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Speaker 1: telling the ABC that people don't feel safe going out

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Speaker 1: at night.

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Speaker 2: What is your response to that, Well, I think.

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Speaker 3: We've changed that perception and certainly that's what I've seen

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Speaker 3: in the last seventeen days since Drina has been operating,

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Speaker 3: in the feedback that we're getting and our girls and

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Speaker 3: girls on the street that it's a really positive engagement

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Speaker 3: having the police on the street, having our area of

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Speaker 3: operations in the Central Business district and people are feeling

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Speaker 3: safe and secure, and that's the feedback we're getting on

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Speaker 3: the ground from members of the public.

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Speaker 1: Katie, And do you think that this surge and also

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Speaker 1: those additional officers that are going to be permanently based

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Speaker 1: in Alice. Do you think that that's going to sort

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Speaker 1: of help some of the community members and also those

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Speaker 1: business owners to feel safer longer term?

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Speaker 3: I think it is. It's already shown that's happening, and

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Speaker 3: we're concentrating erifforts on keeping people safe and providing that

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Speaker 3: community reassurance and making sure that people are able to

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Speaker 3: go out and enjoy this beautiful town.

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Speaker 1: Assistant Commissioner are a question that's come through from one

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Speaker 1: of our listeners wondering why can't they get people before

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Speaker 1: that point of sale, you know, when you're talking about

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Speaker 1: that nearly nine hundred liters of alcohol. Is there a

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Speaker 1: way that you know that they can sort of be

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Speaker 1: stopped from purchasing before it gets to that point.

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Speaker 3: I think that's a really that's a really difficult question, Katie.

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Speaker 3: Alcohol is a legal product. The lifting of stronger futures

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Speaker 3: saw the alcohol become available to a whole different range

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Speaker 3: of people now, so there's no restrictions on the premises

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Speaker 3: in which you can buy alcohol from. In less the

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Speaker 3: communities opted in and down this way, we didn't see

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Speaker 3: a lot of people opting in in relation to the

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Speaker 3: access of our cohols. So it's not simply a matter

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Speaker 3: that we can just prevent somebody from buying what is

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Speaker 3: a legally available commodity.

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Speaker 1: Well Assistant Commissioner Regional and Remote Policing, Martin Dole, We

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Speaker 1: always appreciate your time. I appreciate you coming on and

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Speaker 1: having a chat with us this morning, and you know,

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Speaker 1: I think ahead of Christmas, particularly in light of what's

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Speaker 1: gone on in Queensland in recent days as well. A

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Speaker 1: big thank you to all of the Northern Territory Police

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Speaker 1: for the work that you do. I know that the

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Speaker 1: community appreciates it and I think that it's very much,

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Speaker 1: you know, something that we need to be a need

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Speaker 1: to be thanking you guys for for your hard work.

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Speaker 3: Thanks so much, Katie, thank you very much

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Speaker 2: Thanks for your time this morning,